Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 5h

A later phase was the magazine, which collected & evaluated different newspapers’ news, saying which papers agreed/disagreed, & providing a tool for comparatively judging the credibility of different papers.

In sum: both previous crises like this were handled by journalism providing pro analysis.

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Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 5h

There was an earlier phase of fear of printed news, that people would unquestioningly accept as true things they saw in print. Shakespeare depicts this in Winter’s tale. It was addressed by developing regular newspapers whose reputations could be watched & judged instead of one-off news sheets 2/

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Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 5h

I think you’re right, but also that there was a big patch in the 19th C of fear of faked photographs (the fairy photos were part of this) & then calm when people felt the press had developed good enough tools to spot fake pics. We are back in the patch of fear that the press will fail that. Also 1/

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Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 5h

And I’ll look forward to hearing your thoughts!

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Shelly Kraicer @shellyk.bsky.social · 10h

Reading Ada Palmer’s @adapalmer.bsky.social stunning INVENTING THE RENAISSANCE. Whose thesis may be super roughly described as: what we think we know as “the Renaissance” didn’t exist: it was a way later historians organized certain facts (& excluded others) to serve & justify ideologies of power 1/

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Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 12h

Hope you can get some rest and feel better! Take care of yourselves! 💕

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SFF Reviews @sffreview.bsky.social · 12h

What a fantastic way to celebrate Cuban SFF! 🌟 I’ve loved exploring the unique perspectives these authors bring. Can't wait to dive into more! 📚✨ #CubanSFF #WeekendReads

Reactor Magazine @reactorsff.bsky.social · 13h

We're kicking off your weekend with some Cuban SFF recommendations! How many of these authors have you read?

The Assimilated Cuban's Guide to Quantum Santeria by Carlos Hernandez; These Vengeful Wishes by Vanessa Montalban; Red Dust by Yoss; A Legend of the Future by Augustín de Rojas; The House on Biscayne Bay by Chanel Cleeton; and The Name Bearer by Natalia Hernandez

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Strandschaf @strandschaf.bsky.social · 13h

🥰 Baby giant tortoises thrive in Seychelles after first successful artificial incubation.

A baby Aldabra giant tortoise. It could eventually reach a weight of about 250kg. Photograph: Chris Tagg/Nature Seychelles
The tortois is snacking at a slice of a banana. It is about three times as long as the diameter of that banana. It has a very dark skin and shell.

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✪ Jonathan H. Gray: “Professor of Halloweenery” ✪ @jongraywb.bsky.social · Sep 29

Last week, one of my students said that she was compelled by law to draw pretty girls and she calls that “Yuri Duty” and the kids are all right.

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Brendon Slotterback @bslotterback.bsky.social · 13h

e-bikes are so good

Mike Eliason @holz-bau.bsky.social · 1d

since denver launched its e-bike rebate program - the have sold 10,000 e-bikes and reduced an estimated 1,000,000 car trips - replacing millions of VMTs and reducing air pollution

there are no climate silver bullets... but damn - e-bikes and e-cargo bikes are close

denvergov.org/Government/A...

Denver Celebrates 10,000 E-Bike Rebates

Since its inception in April 2022, Denver has distributed over 10,000 electric bikes (e-bikes) to community members through its pioneering e-bike rebate program. As the first U.S. city to implement su...

denvergov.org

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Ariana Maher @airy.bsky.social · 18h

Sorry to go on, but remember translated manga in the 90s, where they'd flip all of the art out of some fear that Americans wouldn't adapt to right-to-left reading? But readers adapted quick and wanted manga unflipped. The human brain is built more complex than folks give it credit for.

Ariana Maher @airy.bsky.social · 19h

You'd think that lettering is a straightfoward design process -- copy text, draw a balloon, draw a tail, bam -- but depending on the language, culture, creative production, publishing industry, and readership habits, the design language evolves differently and readers adapt to that.

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Bookshop.org @bookshop.org · 15h

Hey book lovers!

Things will be quiet the next two weeks as I am going on vacation (and I’m not giving the password to anyone 😂🤭), but I wanted to say thank you for all of your support this week and remind you to keep supporting indie bookstores while I’m away.

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FortGeek @fortgeek.bsky.social · 13h

If I had room, I'd have a tree up year-round...

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Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 16h

If you look up “heretic” in the OED, you’ll find the oldest use of the word recorded in English is the sentence “The kyng said & did crie the pope was heretike” (c. 1330, Mannyng’s Chronicle).

Patrick Nielsen Hayden @handle.invalid · 1d

This presumes that the essence of Catholicism is the worship and/or veneration of clergy, particularly the Pope, and that’s never been a settled thing within Catholicism.

I mean, yes, these guys are ridiculous, but not because they argue with the pope. Catholics argue with the pope. It’s a thing.

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Trenton @gossmata58.bsky.social · 19h

Gives me hope that Michigan can revive the arctic grayling

Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 19h

The lake sturgeon (a 100-year-living, 90-kg relic from the age of dinosaurs) is returning to Missouri’s rivers after near-extinction from dams and pollution. The revival of a keystone species and signalling broader recovery of the Mississippi basin’s river systems.
buff.ly/NJFBX6f
#ShareGoodNewsToo

Ancient fish species makes historic comeback in Missouri rivers

The Missouri Department of Conservation reported that lake sturgeon are spawning in large numbers.

buff.ly

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Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 19h

The lake sturgeon (a 100-year-living, 90-kg relic from the age of dinosaurs) is returning to Missouri’s rivers after near-extinction from dams and pollution. The revival of a keystone species and signalling broader recovery of the Mississippi basin’s river systems.
buff.ly/NJFBX6f
#ShareGoodNewsToo

Ancient fish species makes historic comeback in Missouri rivers

The Missouri Department of Conservation reported that lake sturgeon are spawning in large numbers.

buff.ly

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Scripps Institution of Oceanography @scrippsocean.bsky.social · 1d

From trailblazing astronauts to groundbreaking discoveries across the cosmos, Scripps Oceanography is proud to join @ucsandiego.bsky.social in celebrating #WorldSpaceWeek and the many ways our researchers and alumni are advancing space science. 👩‍🚀🚀✨ today.ucsd.edu/story/inside...

Inside UC San Diego’s Out-of-This-World Impact

Explore 13 ways our research is extending past Earth’s atmosphere, from astronaut firsts to breakthroughs in orbit and discoveries across the cosmos.

today.ucsd.edu

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FreeLinkophant sHELLey B Woke - Living Saint of Purity🏳️‍⚧️🖤💜🤍 💛 @shelleybwoke.bsky.social · 1d

Dreams do come true!

Dr. Brendan Anderson @fossilsndcoffee.bsky.social · 1d

I know I missed this when it was a trend, but I finally got pictures of my basement museum from when I was in 2nd grade sent to me so here is my
"How it started/How it's going" 🦕🦑🐌⚒️

Good to see I had some early mollusk representation

A display of dinosaur and other prehistoric creatures on a display stand with name tags on each. A globe with different dinosaurs on it and where they are found hangs from a pipe next to it

Childhood exhibit section with dinosaur, plesiosaur, and pterosaur art (bad), modern and fossil mollusk specimens, some fish displays, and a fake ammonite arrangement that you dig out of those clay children's activities

Overview of a museum exhibit showing the Gastropod section with several cases and didactics and a Giant squid decal on the wall with 3D tentacles coming out

Several ammonoids in a display case with a didactic

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Aaron Dries @aarondries.bsky.social · 1d

I was awarded a Ditmar for Best Short Story of 2025 for BELLOW OF THE STEAMSHIP COW and another for LET THE CAT IN, the podcast I co-host with Kaaron Warren and J. Ashley-Smith. Ditmars have been awarded annually since 1969, and are basically the Australian Hugos. Congrats all. Deeply honoured.

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bookswain.bsky.social @bookswain.bsky.social · 1d

This is what the plate in the post below looks like in my copy of John O. Westwood’s Facsimiles of Anglo-Saxon and Irish Manuscripts (1868). Probably the largest book in my personal library, thus the pencil for scale rather than the usual coin.
#booksky #medievalsky

A facsimile illustration of Saint
Mark (7th century) after a manuscript from the Royal MS IE VI, British Museum.
He is seated, wearing a green robe in an archway with a scroll that crosses his lap and towers above and below him. It looks like he's playing it like a guitar with his left hand raised on the neck and his right hand shredding.
Image via the Public Domain
Review.

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American Historical Association @historians.org · 1d

The AHA offers travel and childcare grants to help graduate students, early career historians, un/underemployed historians, and community college and public high school teachers attend #AHA26. Check out the full list of available grants at the link. 🗃️

Annual Meeting Funding - AHA

The AHA offers several grants and fellowships to assist graduate students and early career historians with childcare and travel costs for the annual meeting.

www.historians.org

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Janet Hill @saskajanet.bsky.social · 1d

Thar she glows! A Blue Jay visits the garden to see if the peanut feeder is up yet (it is) #birds

Blue bird with pointy crest is perched on a black metal shepherd’s crook looking over its left shoulder at the viewer. Late afternoon light from behind makes a warm glow.

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Fideo Peligrosa, Blepper Extraordinaire @ahaikulife.bsky.social · 2d

#SomethingBeautiful #TimelineCleanse

A dark moth is very well camoflaged on a dark metal deadbolt lock

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The Haunting Of Fandom Post @fandompost.com · 1d

#Yamishibai: Japanese Ghost Stories Season 15 Episode #13 #Anime Review (Season Finale)

It's time to get back to our spooky stories of short-form horror from Japan.

dlvr.it

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Writing for Wellbeing @writeforwellbeing.bsky.social · 2d

Another in my series of libraries
State Library, Melbourne
#SomethingBeautiful #LoveLibraries #EveryLibraryMatters #Libraries #Library #LibrarySky #libsky

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